Witthauer’s Last-Second Goal Gives Statesmen First ‘W’ of Fall

Ottawa, Kan.--The Statesmen women's soccer team escaped with its first victory of the season Saturday, defeating Ottawa 2-1 in non-conference play.

WPU (1-1) dominated the contest with a 13-3 advantage in shots (8-2 in shots on goal), but needed a tally in the waning seconds to get its first victory of the young campaign.

Taylor Witthauer (Sr., Vancouver, Wash., Nursing) pulled the trigger twice in the opening parts of Saturday's bout, but neither effort found the netting.

The visitors continued to pour it on, though, and broke through at the 9:38 mark when Lilly Cote (So., Sioux City, Iowa, Education) took a centering pass from Jacque Schwager (So., Bondurant, Iowa, Psychology and Human Services) and deposited into the goal for a 1-0 edge.

The lead stood until the 78th minute when the Braves (0-1) unfortunately produced the equalizer.

The game remained deadlocked into the final minute and it appeared the sides were doomed to draw, but the Statesmen grabbed possession as the clocked ticked away.

The ball eventually moved into the corner for Alessia Piombo (Fr., Traverse City, Mich., Business Management) and she fired an attempt at the cage.  The OU goalkeeper unfortunately dove and stopped the try, but she could not hold on.

The ball squirted away from her and on the far side of the post, Witthauer, who had seven shots on the night (three on goal), one-touched it into an empty net for the game-winner with only 19 seconds left.

Madeline Danielson (Jr., La Crescent, Minn., Exercise Science) earned the goalkeeper victory with one save.

"We showed good hustle towards the end of the game; even after the game became tied, our ladies kept fighting to score again," Graduate Assistant Coach Livia Silva said.  "Overall, this was a good fight for us.  We have a few things to improve upon, but it is nice to get the win and use it as incentive for our next match."

Next Up: William Penn returns to Oskaloosa next Wednesday for its home opener, hosting Coe in non-conference action at 7 p.m.